Page 42

Chapter 42

Jessie

Well, Tuesday had been a shit show. I was determined to make Wednesday better. Mikey seemed equally determined. He had coffee and flowers sent to work for me, garnering an embarrassing number of squeals as an admin carried them through set.

Kitty laughed as my face boiled when the flowers were handed to me.

“Is it your anniversary?” one of the other actors asked.

Kitty snatched the note. “No, it’s just her boyfriend’s cute way to say sorry.”

I swiped the note back, scowling at her. “Mine!”

“You know I’m just nosy and want to see Mikey being cute,” she said.

“You’re lucky you got one that says sorry at all,” the other actor cracked.

The note read, “Sweet Cheeks, Hope today is better than yesterday. I’m sorry again. Gonna give you the biggest hug when I get home. Heart, Jockey.”

My stomach dipped as I took a whiff of the flowers. Irina stood off to the side, distaste apparent in her expression. I grinned as I walked them to the wardrobe trailer.

Ben called when he was getting in bed that night in Detroit. They didn’t have a game but got there a day early. He’d been out with Guy and his best friend, who was also Kitty’s brother. He lived in Detroit and they apparently had a grand old time getting caught up. Ben was nervous about seeing his family the next day, but otherwise, he seemed fine. I’d had some time to cool off and didn’t hold all the stuff that happened Tuesday at the party against him. He, however, seemed to still blame himself for all of it. I told him not to sweat it, and after a steamy little dirty talking session, I went to bed thinking all was well between us.

* * *

The lights were on when I walked into the wardrobe trailer Thursday morning. Usually, I was the first one in, with Irina sauntering in two hours later. Russ, our producer, sat in the middle of the room in a folding chair.

“Yep. She’s here now. I’ll call you back when I know something,” he said, hanging up the phone. “Hi, Jessie.”

“Hey, Russ. What’s going on?”

“Have a seat,” he said, then realized there was nowhere for me to sit. He pulled his chair over to my worktable and I sat. “How are things going for you here?”

My heart pounded. Was I about to get fired? “Good. I’ve learned a lot. We’ve been really busy, too.”

“I don’t think it was ‘we’, Jessie. We noticed Irina wasn’t pulling her weight. She’d been warned before, but we let her go last night.”

My mouth fell open and I coughed out an involuntary laugh. “Oh, wow.”

“I know it’s not ideal timing with the on-location coming up next week, but if you’re interested, we’d like to promote you to head costume designer. I know that leaves you not a lot of time to hire your replacement. But the sooner you can get someone hired, the sooner you can have help.”

“Russ, wow. I’m honored.”

“So you’ll accept?”

“Yes, yes, of course,” I stammered. “Thanks for the opportunity.”

“You earned it, kid. Sorry you had to work so hard while we didn’t notice. Hopefully your job will get easier now.”

I felt like crying. I was elated, but overwhelmed, too. Where the hell would I find the time to look for a replacement? I gave him a simper of a smile.

“Twenty minutes to call time, though. Figure I should get out of your hair. Scarlett will send an email with your new salary and the budget for your replacement.”

I put my nose to the grindstone and got to work. I’d have to tell Mikey later, but I was sure he’d be happy for me. He’d been pep-talking me for weeks on dealing with Irina and encouraging me to leave if things didn’t get better soon.

Still, I was so excited to share the good news with him. I shot off a quick text at lunchtime, so mid-afternoon for him. He was in Detroit that day.

Got some big news. Can’t wait to share

I didn’t get a response.